


Holding Hands

by FriendlyCybird



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: F/M, I swear he's an OC okay?, Names, Plant monster, also there's a, just remember that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 03:31:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16905294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FriendlyCybird/pseuds/FriendlyCybird
Summary: Holding hands with a boy was great. Holding hands with a cute boy was awesome. Holding hands with a cute boy while they ran for their lives was the actual best.





	Holding Hands

Holding hands with a boy was great. Holding hands with a cute boy was awesome. Holding hands with a cute boy while they ran for their lives was the actual best. Her heart was pounding. Stuff like this wasn’t supposed to happen in Piedmont! But despite the terror coursing through her, she was so glad it was. 

Some sort of vine/tentacle thing snapped forward, grabbing at them. Impossibly, Mabels stride lengthened and she yanked the boy ahead. The tentacle missed them and the boy let out the cutest noise, something between a yelp and a scream. Mabel grinned and squeezed his hand. Miraculously, that seemed to center the boy, and he was suddenly faster then her. Mabel couldn’t have that, and she pushed to keep up. 

Behind them, the hall was filled with the sound of tearing metal and the crash of lockers being thrown to the floor. The boy spoke, voice near a yell “Do you have any ideas that don’t involve maybe burning down the school?” 

Mabel glanced at him. “You have an idea that does?!” she practically shrieked. Another branch or vine or something snapped forward. Mabel ducked it, dropping into a roll and springing back to her feet.

“It’s a plant monster!” the boy shouted from about a foot behind her, and Mabel felt her heart nearly stop when she realized she’d let go of his hand. Sure, she usually did this sort of thing with a partner, but this strange, cute, blond boy was a far cry from Dipper. They didn’t have years of twin-ness keeping them in sync. Disconnected, she could lose this new, temporary partner. He could get gobbled up by the plant monster! At least, when Grunkle Ford had described the monster she could only assume this was the same thing as, even though that had been somewhere Asia and this was right here in California, he’d speculated it had been planning to eat him. If that happened here, she’d never so much as know this boys name! 

He kept pace at her shoulder though, and after a few seconds Mabels panic eased. “Let’s do your thing but outside.” she suggested. 

There was no sound but their pounding footsteps. When the plant monster wasn’t slamming things around it was so quiet. Which was just unnerving. Something that big should at least growl! Finally the boy groaned “I am so STUPID!” 

“Nah.” Mabel dismissed. “I’m just smart.” even though she had no idea what he was planning other then that it involved fire. She spared a second to glance at him and promptly decided she could get use to how he was looking at her. 

“Do you have hairspray?” 

“Whaa…” even though the question slotted his plan into place.

“Or any aerosol can.” the boy amended, and Mabel felt a surge of affection for this handsome stranger. It was muted by the fact that she was not carrying an aerosol can of any kind at the moment. 

“No…” she admitted, then brightened “But Mrs. Dooley keeps all sorts of stuff in her desk!” 

“Okay…” Mabel recognized a calculating tone when she heard one. Then “Shit! Mrs. Dooleys classroom is behind us!” 

There was a lot to unpack there. First of all, cute boy swore. Second, he knew where Mrs. Dooleys classroom was, so he probably took art classes! And third, and most important to this particular moment, he’d just blown a hole in her only contribution to the plan. 

Unless… “Do you trust me?” 

“Yes.” she was surprised, pleased, but surprised, by his total lack of hesitation. 

“Good.” she declared, and spun on her heal and began running towards the monster, catching his hand and pulling him along. 

“Fuck!” Mabel understood the sentiment, and maybe even agreed with it. She was maybe even beginning to like that he swore. No time for that now. Her vision was fast filling with the lumpy green and brown mass and its grotesque excuse for a face. She veered left, and it followed, blocking her path and reaching out with vines/branches thick enough to be arms. They were almost in its grasp when she pulled the boy into a sharp right diagonal. He made that cute sound again as they skirted the creature and ran down the narrow strip of hallway. Mabel whooped in delight once they were behind it and the boy pulled ahead, fingers tight around hers half dragging her down the hall. He was FAST. 

It wasn’t long before they got to Mrs. Dooleys classroom. Mabel had to let go of his hand to tear through the desk drawers at the front of the room while he started checking the cupboard in the back. “Found it!” Mabel cried, holding a slim can of hairspray aloft. The boy approached with a pair of exacto knives from the cupboards. Mabel took one, matching his grim expression and practically reading his thought. If fire didn’t work, there was always stabbing. Then something occurred to her. “So, where are we gonna get the fire?” 

In answer, the boy reached into the pouch in the front of his grey hoodie and displayed a small lighter with a picture of the astrological symbol for Taurus. “I’ve got it.” he said confidently. Mabel fell in love with him for just that moment. The moment then broke with a loud crash as the monster caved in the door that the boy had thought to close behind them. 

Mabels eyes searched around them for an alternate exit. She didn’t see one. “Uhhh…” she said, backing away from the door, boy at her side. “You know that idea I had about not burning the school down?” 

“Yeah?” there was a lot of fear in his voice. He already knew what she was about to say. 

“I’m not sure we can pull it off.” 

There was a breathless moment as they were backed to the far end of the room. Then the boy dove forward and grabbed a desk, and lifted. It came about six inches off the floor and clattered back down. He swore again, and Mabel realized what he’d been about to try. She’d dismissed the thought before she’d even really had it. The windows were plexiglass, weren’t they? 

Worth a shot though. She couldn’t think of anything better. Mabel pushed the boy aside and grabbed the desk. It was lighter than Waddles was these days, if more awkwardly shaped. Heaving in a semicircle, she turned and slammed the legs of desk into the wide classroom window. 

The window wasn’t plexiglass. 

The boy was climbing through the shattered glass before Mabel so much as thought it might be safe, because doing otherwise was definitely not. She dropped the desk on the grass outside the window and followed, and soon the pair was running across the school lawn out into the empty parking lot. The monster struggled to follow them, vine-tentacles flying out en masse. For a too-long moment, Mabel feared it would give up and retreat back into the school to wait for students to arrive in the morning, or even find other students who had stayed this late. 

The monster persevered, dragging itself through the broken window. As it began crossing the lawn toward them, Mabel readied the bottle and the boy aligned his lighter to the nozzle. 

Grunkle Ford had said that for all its bulk and speed, the plant monster he and Grunkle Stan had fought was stupid, painfully so. Stan had teased that it had outsmarted Ford, but had overall agreed it was probably dumb as bricks. That proved true of this version too, as it raged directly into their very obvious trap. So it was obviously the same thing, and her Grunkles had won their fight with fire too. It got closer and closer until it was mere feet away and Mabel shouted “Now!” and pressed the spray nozzle. 

A jet of flame shot out from her hand, and Mabel felt nearly giddy. The giddiness evaporated as the monster caught fire with a woosh and kept advancing. Mabel shifted, throwing her arm forward to catch the boy around the middle and tackled him to the side. They both collapsed onto the asphalt in a heap and Mabel began dragging them both to their feet to run again. The fear struck her that the monster might reorient and get them while they were down, now as likely to burn them alive as to eat them. Standing up was taking too long!

Although mere seconds passed, Mabel realized it wasn’t going to round on them. The thing stopped where the pair had been standing, and it burned. It made no sound, just became a massive, smoking bonfire. Really, there was a lot of smoke. Mabel giggled as she stabilized on her feet, and the boy joined her. 

“Well.” he observed “I’m put off salad for the rest of my life.” 

Mabels giggle turned into a full-fledged belly laugh. She reached out and clapped the boy on the shoulder, as much to keep from doubling over in peels of laughter as for the gesture of camaraderie. He was laughing too, and Mabel felt good. They just stood there a while, laughing together in the light of the fire. It was nice. Finally, when she could breathe again she asked “What do you carry a lighter around for anyway?” with laughter still in her voice. She’d be really disappointed if it turned out her perfect boy smoked or something.

He gestured toward the fire, and Mabel giggled again at the implied joke, before he declared “Not this!” they both laughed a few moments longer as the adrenaline drained out of them. Then he sighed and said “Nah, I saw it in a gas station. It had my star sign on it so I just...put it in my pocket and never took it out.” 

One last giggle escaped Mabel with a shiver as the post-adventure tiredness started to set in. She’d worked up enough sweat to leave her chilled in the January night air. She was still smiling though. She extended her hand toward the boy. “I’m Mabel.” 

The boy was smiling too. He turned back and Mabel felt her heart sputter. He was impossibly cute. Thin, but broad shouldered, blond hair that reflected almost a halo around him in the firelight, and wide, dark eyes that smiled as bright as the rest of his face. Oh she was smitten. He reached out and clasped her hand again. This time not to run, but to make introductions. A real beginning. Then he opened his mouth and said one word.

“Bill.” 

The world stopped. Her world shattered. He may as well have hit her square in the chest as said that name. May as well be holding her around the middle so tight she could barely breathe, high in the air while he flashed between symbols deciding who to kill…

Mabel returned to the moment without breath. She remembered to take one and her lungs ached. Her legs ached. He was still holding her hand. Oh god, she’d shaken his hand!

“Are you okay?” his voice was concerned. His eyes were concerned. Eyes. Plural. That was a good sign, right? The smile had melted off his face. His face was concerned. Eyes. It came back to the eyes. Mabel leaned in, letting go of his hand, grabbing his shoulder again this time none too gently and pulling him close as well. He made a startled sound, less cute to her right now then it had been, and she got a good, close look. Dull, white sclera. Round pupils, irises the color of deerskin. A sign of relief escaped her as she stumbled a few steps away from him. “Mabel?” 

She barked a short almost-laugh. “You…” this laugh was almost real, if just as short. “You wouldn’t happen to have another name I could call you?” 

He shrugged helplessly. “Not really.” 

Maybe it was Mabels turn to swear. She certainly felt like it. Or scream. Screaming might help. She decided against it. Because in the end, he wasn’t Bill. Not really. 

“Too bad.” she said and turned to walk away. She walked to the bus stop. She sank heavily onto the bench. She groaned and flopped over. Everything had been going so WELL. Then he’d gone and ruined it with his stupid name. 

Okay, she knew she was the one who’d ruined it by walking off. But what was she supposed to do? Laugh it off like it was nothing? Well, wasn’t it nothing? Mabel groaned, loudly, and dug into her purse to pull out her phone, checking the time. The next bus was due in six minutes. She also had a couple notifications. Nothing important, a couple social media posts. She was checking them to distract herself when she heard “What was that all about?” 

It really wasn’t fair. He even had a nice voice. One that, now she knew his name, she half expected to make her heart stop in terror. It didn’t. It was just as nice as he was and she groaned again, dramatically. Hoping the noise would beat back the encroaching sense of guilt. Slowly she sat up and looked at him, as cute as ever, standing a few feet away from the bus stop bench, and she sighed, putting her phone away as she searched for an answer to his question. “You ever meet someone…” she began “and they DO something...and then their name is ruined for you forever?” 

He nodded immediately. “My Aunt Vanessa.” 

His Aunt? Mabel blinked at him, trying to work out just how a relative could ruin their name for you. She promptly decided it wasn’t worth it. “Yeah. I met a Bill last summer, and…” she made a high noise of uncertainty “It wasn’t a good experience.” 

“It’s a popular name.” The boy said, just a little bit defensively. 

“He tried to kill me.” The words were out before she could even think about them. 

“What?!” Really, she should have expected his shock. Not many things, well, not many people, tried to kill teenagers, much less twelve year olds. Things did, sure. They’d just burned up a plant monster that had tried to kill them. Bill was a person name though, even if the being in question was somewhere between a person and a thing. 

Mabel shrugged. “He was a demon. My grunkles killed him.” Maybe if she was just completely honest it would scare him away and she wouldn’t have to deal with the cute boy named Bill and it wouldn’t be her fault. 

The demon thing wasn’t what tripped him up. “Grunkles?” he echoed. 

“Great Uncles.” she clarified. 

He shoved his hands into both sides of the pouch in the front of his hoodie, frowning deeply. There was silence for a bit. Mabel almost checked her phone to see how much longer the bus would be. “Yeah, okay.” he said finally. “I see why you asked for something else to call me. And I’ll think about it, okay? But…” he frowned even more deeply and Mabels mind began instinctively scrambling for a way to make him feel better. “I’m not gonna be the last guy named Bill you meet. And sure, some...well, there’s names like William, and Will that you might get away with calling some of them...not me though.” he added quickly. “And sure, it’ll be hard. But you know what else is hard?” and here, he broke into a small smile. “Running from a plant monster.” 

He was trying to make her feel better. So he was cute, fast, smart, and sweet? Mabel was starting to think he was just fated to have a name like...that...because nobody could be completely perfect. She let it work, let the vague, gnawing fear fade away and the guilt for how she’d reacted to it as well. Then she offered him her best grin. “Nah. That part’s easy.” She shifted to one side and patted the bench beside her, and he took the seat offered. “The hard part is when you realize you just did something awesome with a new friend, and totally forgot to take a picture!” 

He returned her smile and pulled out his phone. “Not too late.” he commented, leaning towards her slightly. Mabel leaned in and, without thinking, covered his free hand with hers. She was too distracted by the screen in front of them and their faces side by side as the flash went off to realize he’d flipped that free hand and was holding hers again. The picture of them was cute enough, but it looked like any other generic selfie. Nothing about it captured the excitement of their shared evening. He still seemed happy with it. “I’ll send it to you.” he offered, flicking to his social media accounts. “What’s your last name?” 

“Pines.” she answered easily, even as she realized they were holding hands again. Her heart rate, predictably, went up. 

He typed in her name and sent a friend request. Her own phone pinged. Mabel grabbed it with her free hand. Bill Jones. Well. Jones was a far cry from Cipher. She could learn to get use to this. His hand in hers was nice enough that she could overlook just about anything. She accepted his friend request, feeling more personal importance in the gesture then it might have merited. A few beats later the selfie he’d taken appeared in her messages. She smiled at it and turned off her phone screen before tucking it back in her purse and turning to look at the real thing beside her just in time to see his face shift from surprise to regret. “Uh-oh.” 

“What?” 

He pulled something from his pocket and held it up to display. “I think we just accidentally stole Mrs. Dooley’s exacto knives.” Mabel blinked at him, and just like that she was laughing again. He smiled sheepishly. “We can return them tomorrow?” he suggested, sliding the offending object back into his pocket. 

Mabel shook her head. “B...Bill…” she tried, and with the laughter in her voice the name didn’t sound so bad. “We broke Mrs. Dooley’s window!” 

Bill paled, and Mabel could only laugh harder. “You don’t think we’re gonna get in trouble, do you?” he asked.

“Pshh.” Mabel dismissed with a wave of her free hand. She was still holding his hand. “Not if we don’t return the knives!” Then she playfully bumped his shoulder with hers. “What are you so worried about anyway? I thought you were cool.” 

“Well, you’d be the first.” he said, humorously self-deprecating and Mabels laughter began to die down, and she just smiled at him, trying to decide what to say next. He spoke before she could. “Bus.” 

Mabel looked away from him to see the bus coming, and stood up. She reluctantly let go of the boys, of Bills, of this Bills hand as she did so and glanced back at him. He was staying on the bench. “You’re not getting on?” 

“I live in the other direction.” he gestured vaguely and Mabel nodded as the bus pulled up. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” 

The doors of the bus opened, and Mabel nodded. “I hope so.”

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, I work in a call center. I cannot remember the last time I went a day without having a conversation with at least one man named Bill. It's a SUPER common name. Mabel is just lucky she went a little over a year without running into one. 
> 
> ...and if he kinda looks like fanon human!Bill, well... I couldn't resist.


End file.
